Sarasota Real Estate Market Update

Posted by Sara Leicht on Monday, March 14th, 2011 at 4:06pm.

 Sarasota Real Estate Market Update

   In January’s Market Update I shared that the Sarasota Real Estate Market has seen some very significant improvements.  Even though national and global economics can influence the market, the bottom line has always been that real estate is local in nature.   Let me explain.  The price of a house in Boston has nothing to do with what a person is willing to pay for a house in Detroit.  A boom for houses in Seattle doesn’t effect a bust for houses in Nevada. So what has happened to make Sarasota real estate such a hot topic around the country and how does that effect you and me?

Sarasota Real Estate is Local not Global

Sarasota prices have adjusted over the last several years to the level of pricing that we experienced in 2000-2001.  Why? Because Buyers were not willing to pay the inflated prices of the boom years along with influx of homes for sale, bad bank loans bringing to market distressed properties and banks tightening the lending requirements.  The Buyer has always controlled the market.  Adjustments in prices has caused a flurry of activity including multiple and full price offers.  Buyers are seeing value in the market place and are buying homes that meet their lifestyle.

Even though distressed properties are on the market, we are not seeing them close in a timely manner because there are legal issues attached.  1 out of 9 short sales actual close.
I recently spoke with an agent who focused on short sales and now is focusing on traditional sales.  Why?  He wrote up 27 contracts on short sales and not one closed.  Another agent friend of mine spent the past year working on 9 short sales with 9 different customers.  None closed. 

The attitude on the street is that agents don’t like to show short sales and customers don’t want to wait for the banks to make up their minds on how to handle them.  The other news is that banks 2 to 3 years ago were forgiving the debt from a short sale but not today.  I have talked with many bankers and they are not allowing people to walk away from deficiencies.  This has caused people to think twice before walking.

The Sarasota Real Estate Market has seen a significant drop in inventory to a 6 year low.  Sales closed in February 2011 went up 24.2% from January 2011 and year to year sales are up 27% from February 2010.  This has happened to single family homes as well as condos in the Sarasota Real Estate Market.  A higher sales totals combined with lower inventory has caused a sharp decline in the months of available inventory. 
Sarasota Real Estate Market side by side comparisons:

SALES                          February 2011                         February 2010
                                    673 total                                  528 total                                   
                                    Single Family 472
                                    Condo 201

PENDING SALES         February 2011             January 2011               February 2010
                                    1,023                           1,013                           967

INVENTORY                February 2011             January 2011               January 2009
Single Family              8.0 months                  10.2 months                25.3 months
Condos                       10.4 months                14.1 months                38.4 months

The Sarasota Real Estate Market is considered to be in equilibrium when the months of inventory is at the 6 month level.

Sara Leicht, Realtor®
Michael Saunders and Company
Licensed Real Estate Broker
8660 South Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, FL 34233
(941) 586-4790

E-Mail Sara:    SaraLeicht@MichaelSaunders.com

More Information About Sara

Sarasota Real Estate          Siesta Key Real Estate         Waterfront Homes in Sarasota          Palmer Ranch Homes

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